The Chancellor brought some cheer to the nation's beer drinkers by scrapping a duty escalator blamed for closing pubs - and going further by cutting duty by 1p.

The beer industry and campaign groups have been warning the government that the escalator, which has added 2% to the price of a pint since it was introduced by Labour in 2008, was forcing pubs out of business.

The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) gathered more than 100,000 names on a petition which led to a parliamentary debate last year.

The widely-loathed beer duty escalator has been scrapped

Camra pointed out that beer duty has risen 42% since 2008, adding that 18 pubs a week are closing.